American History X

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American History X

American History X was directed by Tony Kaye and released in 1998. This movie contains many sociological concepts, which will be discussed in this essay. Five of these concepts are Culture in general, Ethnocentrism, Nature vs. Nurture, Looking Glass Self, and Mead’s concept of “I” and “Me”.
The story begins with two black men arriving at the house of a neo-nazi name Derek Vinyard intending to break into his car and steal it. The man discovers this and kills both of the men as they try to escape. He is then arrested and jailed, then the story moves ahead in time to the day that he is released from jail. The story, though, focuses on his younger brother Danny who begins to follow his brother’s neo-nazi group even though Derek is reformed as he leaves the prison. Danny’s principal, a black man, sees Danny following in Derek’s ways. He takes on Danny as a personal student to make him write a paper analyzing the events concerning his brother’s incarceration and the impact of the society that he lives in on his present view and situation in life.
The older brother Derek had become the younger leader of the neo-nazi leader after his father was shot and killed while fighting a fire in a black community. Derek’s anger led him to hatred against the minority group. His ways then passed on to his younger brother Danny who began to think along the same lines as the rest of the racist group. Danny, however, is still stuck in the middle, not completely believing or following all the teachings of the nazi group. The older leader of the nazi group tries to turn Danny to the nazi side while Derek, who has reformed in prison, with the help of Danny’s principal, tries to convince him that he is being taught lies and things that are bad for society.
Seeing this problem from his own perspective, Danny begins to write his paper. The paper focuses on his older brother as it analyzes and interpr...